Indian uprising: Kennett goes off on Blair Oaks in 16-5 state championship rout

Kennett junior Reese Robinett celebrates with teammates, including Brooks Nigut (13) after scoring on an inside-the-park home run against Blair Oaks in the MSHSAA Class Baseball State Final on Thursday at US Ballpark in Ozark.

Tom Davis ~ Tdavis@semoball.com

OZARK – On March 1 of this year, the Kennett High School baseball team walked out for its first official practice of the 2021 season into a blustery (the wind was blowing at 20-plus m.p.h.) 48-degree afternoon.

And the Indians practiced as hard as they could.

“We’ve practiced like champions all season,” veteran Kennett coach Aaron New said. “They understand how hard it is to get to this point and knowing that in early March you are having to go out on a cold day to practice and give your best effort.”

That effort came to fruition in the last 24 hours, specifically the last seven innings of the 2021 baseball season.

The Indians put on an offensive exhibition in their final two games of the year that WAS historic and in doing so they MADE history, as Kennett won the MSHSAA Class 4 state championship 16-5 over Blair Oaks at US Ballpark in Ozark on Thursday.

It was the first championship won by the program, which finished third in 2011.

“It feels great,” New said afterward. “And I feel even better for our kids.”

In Kennett’s final two games, it totaled 21 hits and scored 27 runs, as the Indians beat Lafayette (St. Joseph) 11-4 in the semifinal.

In the final seven innings of the season, Kennett scored an astonishing 25 runs. And keep in mind, it was facing the best teams in all of Missouri.

“We’re so inconsistent on offense,” New said, “but we got some momentum. We probably finally reached our potential that we hadn’t reached all year long.”

Yeah, probably.

After scoring nine runs in their final at-bat against Lafayette, the Indians (26-8) jumped on Blair Oaks (28-6) right from the start on Thursday.

Brooks Nigut smoked a liner up the middle for a single, which brought up junior Reese Robinett, who the Falcons treated like any other player (he isn’t) and decided to pitch to him despite what he did to Lafayette (he crushed the go-ahead home run) the day before.

Robinett drove a pitch about 380 feet into center field for a double to score Nigut and the Kennett offensive mojo was flowing.

Tanner Duncan walked, Bodey Ellis singled, Payton Heinley walked, Kobe Gates singled, and when the first inning had ended, the Indians had four hits and as many runs.

“We thought our lineup was going to be deep at the beginning of the year,” New said. “We had guys get hot, we’ve had guys be cold, but we could never really put it together, but from the seventh inning yesterday to the sixth inning today, we finally put a game together and that is when we were supposed to do it.”

The day wasn’t perfect for New’s kids, in fact, far from it.

Gates started the game on the mound, and he struggled to locate his pitches.

The senior threw 24 pitches, only 11 were for strikes, as he walked two and allowed three earned runs.

New turned to junior right-hander J.T. Williams, who hadn’t thrown outside of a bullpen session in three weeks.

“I knew it was going to be tough,” Williams said of being thrown into THIS game in THIS situation (Blair Oaks had runners on the corners with just one out). “I knew that I was going to have a rough time getting back into the groove again.”

Blair Oaks had some quick success against Williams, but over the next four innings, the Falcons put six baserunners on, but couldn’t score a run.

“He can throw three pitches and he can change speeds,” New said of Williams. “He can locate his breaking ball. He’s just one of those guys, who is a pretty crafty little high school pitcher, and he probably pitched as well as he had ever pitched in his life today.”

The Indians added two more runs in the second inning to stretch their margin to 6-3, as Nigut and Ellis both tripled, before adding 10 more runs in the fifth and sixth innings, highlighted by an inside-the-park home run from Robinett (Blair Oaks thought it’d be wise to keep pitching to him).

Nigut paced the Kennett offense with three hits, three runs, and a pair of RBI, while Braden Tice (two hits, one run, two RBI), Robinett (two hits, three runs, five RBI), Duncan (two hits, one run, one RBI, one walk), Ellis (two hits, two runs), Heinley (one hit, two RBI, two walks), Williams (one hit, two runs, one RBI, one walk), Gates (one hit, two runs, one RBI, one walk), and Tanner Pierce (two runs, three walks) also contributed.

Williams got the win after working 4 2/3 innings and allowing four hits, two earned runs, walking four, and striking out three. Forty-five of his 83 pitches were for strikes.

Ellis came in to close the game in the sixth inning (the game ended due to the “mercy rule”) and allowed one hit, no runs, and struck out two while walking one.

“I’m extremely proud of them,” New said of his team.

As he should be.